Hanover High parts ways with longtime boys soccer coach Grabill

Longtime Hanover High School boys soccer coach Rob Grabill will not return next season after he was informed last month that his contract would not be renewed.

Grabill has been a Hanover High coach for over two decades, three as the varsity assistant and 19 as head coach.

“I’ve loved coaching at Hanover High School. I’ve lived in this community for 35 years. Both my children went to Hanover High School … And so when the opportunity to coach at Hanover, first as an assistant and then as the head coach, came up, I was delighted to do it, and it’s been a real joy,” he said in an interview.

Grabill said he was informed of the decision at the end of the academic term in December, first in a meeting with athletic director Megan Sobel and then with principal Julie Stevenson.

Grabill said this was Sobel’s decision, “and it is absolutely the athletic director’s right to make this decision.” He contended, however, that he “hasn’t heard much in the way of reasons.”

“I did not see this coming,” Grabill said by phone this week. “There was nothing that would have indicated to me that my position or standing was in jeopardy, so that was a surprise.”

School administrators have declined to discuss the details of the decision, but in an interview this week, Superintendent Jay Badams pushed back on the notion that Grabill would have been caught off guard by the decision.

“We, as a district, would really dispute that characterization,” Badams said. “Without going into the details, I believe that the administration has been working with the coach over the course of the past few years on a number of different issues.”

As for the rationale for the moving on from Grabill, Badams added: “It’s safe for me to say that there was nothing horrible, no harm to children or anything like that. But this has been an ongoing process.”

Badams said the school administration has received both positive and negative feedback from the community in response to the decision.

In the interview, Grabill said his coaching record extends back more than 50 years, beginning with youth soccer in 1970. His Hanover teams won 7 state championships during his tenure and deep playoff runs were a regular occurrence even when teams fell short of a title, but Grabill said he also was focused on helping the players develop off the field.

“It’s not just the wins and losses. We’re obviously proud for having won a lot of soccer games and won more state championships than any other high school in the state. That’s great, but I think more importantly, is the quality of individuals that I’ve had the chance to coach and what they’ve done with themselves,” he said.

Former Hanover player Charlie Adams was a standout on the program’s last state championship team in 2019 and just completed his collegiate playing career at Brown University. He spoke positively about his experience under Grabill’s leadership.

“There was a very good balance between being very serious and being successful on the field but also having a lot of fun while we did it,” he said in a phone interview. “I think most people respected Rob a lot. I think people looked up to him. He was a good guy. He respected everyone on the team.”

He said he was “bummed” that Grabill’s time at Hanover is over.

“My memories with Rob were very special, and I think that a lot of kids who were before me, with me, [or] after me would echo a very similar thing,” he said.

Joey Perras, the goalie on that 2019 state title squad, said Grabill had high standards on and off the field.

“I think Rob as a coach is probably, as an athlete, the best organizer that I’ve ever played under.” Perras said in an interview, “I think his greatest strength, as a coach, laid in setting the expectation that we were going to win and that we were going to compete every single game. But also, he was very adamant about sportsmanship and coming together as a team.”

Jett Elin, also a classmate of Adams and Perras, said he recalled playing for Grabill on a youth club team around 2010. He cited Grabill as the reason he stuck with the sport.

“As a coach, he was funny and a lot more positive than a lot of the other coaches I’ve had. Out of my friends who I’ve known who played soccer, the ones who were with him in those early years and then in high school are much more respectful as players and as people. And I do think that’s because of his influence on the team and how he treats his players,” said Elin.

Like Badams, Stevenson, the principal, in an email interview defended the school’s process.

“Any suggestion that this action was taken lightly or not carefully considered would be disingenuous,” she said.

Sobel, the athletic director, confirmed that “the decision and the details not to renew Rob was communicated directly to him, including feedback over several years on areas where we had hoped to see growth.”

“Ultimately, the decision was based on a thorough review of the program’s direction and the needs of our student-athletes,” she said.

She said the school was committed to “a respectful and transparent transition.” Grabill will not have a role in choosing his successor.

Sobel said officials “have advertised the position and will conduct a comprehensive search to identify the best candidate to lead our program and support the continued growth and success of our student-athletes.”

While Hanover High hires its coaches on a season-by-season basis, Grabill said that he had planned to remain the Bears coach for several more years.

“I was very, very busy working with students and working with the parent group, the friends of Hanover soccer, to plan for next year,” he said.

Grabill, an ordained minister who has been the director of religious education at United Church Christ at Dartmouth College since 2008, said he would consider other coaching jobs but was not in a “frantic search.”

“So it was very clear that this is something I wanted to continue doing, but I can continue it somewhere else. I’m just eager to coach,” he said.

Grabill said he has received calls, emails, and messages of support from current and former players, referees, and coaches from across New Hampshire.

“That’s really gratifying,” he said.

Adriana James-Rodil can be reached at ajamesrodil@gmail.com.